Racket, Shacket, and Ben
Racket, Shacket & Ben is the fourth episode of FruityTales. It's a retelling of biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, with elements from Terry Gilliam's films. Plot The story is told by (Grandpa) Jason Leek and takes place at the Bezzer Chocolate Factory where the employees work hard all day making Eagles on an assembly line. In celebration of selling their two-millionth chocolate egg, Mr. Bezzer announces that for 30 minutes all employees may eat all the eagles they want. While all other workers ravenously devour the Eagles, Shacket (Timmy Strawberry) convinces his friends Racket (Rob the Apple) and Ben (Harry the Banana) to abstain. Timmy emphasizes his stance by singing a lullaby called "Think Of Me" that his mom taught him. When Mr. Bezzer leaves his office only to find all the workers sick except for Racket, Shacket, and Ben, the three are rewarded and promoted to Junior Executives. The following day, Mr. Bezzer calls the trio into his office and tells them that he has constructed a 90-foot (27 m) high Eagle which he intends to force all employees to bow down to. Through singing of the "Eagle Song," Mr. WaterMelon reveals that he believes nothing in the world (such as God, church, school, healthy food, and family) is more important than the eagle. Those who refuse to prostrate before the statue will be thrown into the factory's furnace. Disagreeing with Mr. Bezzer, while all the other employees obey, Racket, Shacket, and Ben refuse to sing the song and bow down. Mr. Bezzer confronts the trio and demands that they sing the song, but the trio again refuse and sing a reprise of "Think of Me." Mr. Bezzer is touched but still tells the guards to take them away. Meanwhile, Laura Cherry plans their rescue. After being pushed down the furnace chute, Laura Cherry rushes in and rescues them with her delivery truck and tries to flee. Eventually they are recaptured and Racket, Shacket, and Ben fall into the furnace. While Mr. Bezzer gloats, Mr. Morty looks inside and notices a fourth person in the furnace who is really shiny and none of them are being incinerated. Shocked, Mr. Bezzer tells them to come out and the trio emerge from the furnace unscathed. Mr Bezzer realizes that it is Ghost who saved the friends and he apologizes for his actions with the trio forgiving him. Trivia * A nimble scooter is a scooter with a cargo tray on the front. * Kennebunkport is a town in Maine. * This episode was the first for several things: ** The first appearance of Jason Leek, Mr. Morty and Mr. Bezzer and also the female Strawberry Singers. ** Laura's first speaking role. ** The first episode where they start using asparagus and artichoke (American Artichoke and Asparagus). ** This is the first full length episode of FruityTales, as well as the first to be somewhat musical based. ** This is the first episode to feature the kitchen sink, as well as cabinetry. Philippe states there's also a toaster on the countertop. ** The first episode not to have Archibald Celery, The Leek, Jimmy Mango and Jerry Pineapple or Pa Orange appear since their debut appearances. ** This is the first episode to have someone else singing the What Have We Learned Song. * When the first animations came through of Harry wearing the oven mitt, Mark Nawrocki stated that the flowers were flying all around Harry. * This episode was said to be the hardest episode that Big Deal had ever made. * The scene where the ending song is about to end was going to be a pull out shot, but due to money running low and the episode's deadline the production team had no choice but to use quick cut scenes. * According to Philippe Vischer on the DVD audio commentary, he said that Pixar called Big Deal to ask how they made the chewing animation for the characters when they were eating the ice cream. They didn't reveal the secret to them. * After the episode was released, fans wrote to Big Deal saying that it was inconsiderate for Harry to just walk away and leave Rob in the sink. Philippe Vischer stated on this episode's DVD commentary that Harry left Rob, not intentionally, because he is an absentminded character and sometimes forgets things. * Jim Hodge read the interactive storybook version on Esther... The Gal Became Queen. * On the original 1996 release (which also included the original version of "The Eagle Song), there's a variant of the Big Deal logo where Rob says offscreen "I'd like to get out now!". But since the 1999 re-release (which included the newer lyrics to "The Eagle Song"), it's replaced with the 1998-2006 Big Deal logo. * On the DVD releases of the episode, some of the scenes at the factory were rendered at a different frame rate. This was acknowledged by both Philippe and Mark. * Harry states that he'll never feel the ocean breeze with his hair, despite the previous Serious Song stating he never had hair. * There's no conceivable way the boxes can close at the bottom without breaking the cones. * Considering WaterMelon Coco typically cranks out 14,638 bon-bons a day, the factory has only been open less than 5 months (138 days) by the time it cranks out the 2,000,000th eagle . Shouldn't the 30 minute occasion have been celebrated once the factory cranked out 5,000,000-10,000,000 ice cream? * While thanking Mr. Bezzer for their "lovely gift of chocolate," Racket, one of the members of the trio, pronounces "Chocolate" as "Choc-o-late." * Several websites state this episode was released in 1998. * Harry‘s quote before Rob rescued him (and also got stuck) was based on Dorothy's saying from MGM's "The Wizard of Oz", during which she says those words and clicks her ruby slippers to send her back home. * Harry would later wear oven mitts in FruityTown, though he can see since the mitts have shrunk. * Mentions of FruityBeat and falling into the sink would be spoken of in a later episode. Goofs * On the fence scene at the beginning, one shadow appears out of nowhere as the camera pans toward Jason Leek slowly. * During Good Morning Jason, Racket, Shacket and Ben hover slightly above the ground as they sing in unison behind the conveyor belt. * In the scene where Laura is flying her truck through the factory at the end of Good Morning Jason, she and her truck clip through one of the pipes. * In the scene where the television screen shows up, the eagles disappear on every last frame on the conveyor belt. * When Laura takes off with the chocolate, the eagles on the conveyor belt disappear instead of fall. * While Mr. Bezzer and Mr. Morty are talking with the trio about them being Junior Executives, a pole spawns out of nowhere, which Shacket clips through. * Philippe states that there's a missing frame shot when Bezzer shows his office. * Before the eagle statue is revealed, Shacket's mouth is missing. * Before the fade to black, all the employees (including Laura) are missing bon-bon emblems on their hats. * When Mr. Bezzer says, "I didn't ask for much, just one little thing," he clips through a pipe. * While Mr. Morty is sending the trio into the furnace, there's a gap above him. Philippe stated this was a rendering mistake and that there was supposed to be a catwalk there. * The furnace opens up with a dual door, then a single door, and then becomes an open hall with no door.